Gehra Daag (1963) was interesting for me coming after a week of colorized, cotton-candy late 60s and 70s Ralhan. All of the pieces were in place for later films, they were just a lot more muted.



The unquestioned star of Gehra Daag is Rajendra Kumar. He plays Shanker, who is sentenced to 14 years of prison for manslaughter. See, what happens is that some dope offends Shanker's sister and Shanker gets into a fight with the guy that escalates out of control when the dope brings out a huge claw-type weapon and Shanker kills him with it. He made a mistake and paid his debt to society. Will people be able to forgive him his crimes or will he suffer forever for one mistake?

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All of the later O.P. Ralhan trademarks are here in embryonic form -




1. A comedy sub-plot involving Tun Tun as the maid of Lalita Pawar's sister!

2. The theme that crime is separate from criminals. Crime should be stopped, but not by eliminating the people who commit crimes, who are human. This running theme makes me wonder about O.P. Ralhan's personal life. I wonder if he had a friend or relative go to jail and then come out changed and unable to find a job or be treated fairly. *indulges wild speculation*

3. Excellent camera work/direction by Ralhan. We get some nice long panning shots and effective cuts - not quite as nice in black and white, however. He works better in color, I think. Black and white doesn't suit his pop art style.

4. Strong female characters - from Mala Sinha, a confident and forgiving young woman, to Shanker's sisters, Lalita Pawar and Tun Tun - no doormats here.

I also want to add that the film is built on Rajendra Kumar's performance as Shanker, and he really sells it. There isn't much plot and much of the film is taken up in little household moments and vingettes, which would flop if not anchored by strong performances - especially by Rajendra who is really a compelling figure on-screen.

I'm not sure I would recommend this for anybody except those who are curious - like I was - about early O.P. Ralhan or for huge Rajendra Kumar buffs. It was a very sweet film, but also very slow-moving: Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! with a leftie-liberal social conscience and less comedy.